It also meant that anyone could face down the villains. Farmer Maggot wouldn’t have stood a chance against a real, physical master swordsman, or an army of orcs, or whatever… but he could and did say “No, you’re not getting in here or harming my family and guests” to a Nazgul. Because all the Nazgul had, all it was, was fear, and fear can be faced.
As opposed to the Spanish Inquisition, which has two chief weapons: fear and surprise… and ruthless efficiency…
I wasn’t expecting that.
No one does
It wasn’t fear that was worming its way to Frodo’s heart. They very much had real weapons too.
The Riders weren’t unphysical. Just invisible.
One of the things I like best about Tolkien’s books is when he throws in stuff that never gets explained. Like Beorn from the Hobbit. What was he? What weird things can out of the Forrest that caused hobbits in Buckland to lock their doors? Where did Wargs come from? I know a lot of it would never be mentioned again so much and Tolkien often changed things.
I like your analysis, but as a nitpick, I thought the Nazgûl were some kind of quasi-corporeal beings. That’s why a hobbit could stick a shiv in one, or they could ride horses.
It is a little complicated. The were basically spirits that clothed themselves in robes & armor. They had physical weapons. They were less powerful in daylight and could see only shadows. The inhabited a Wraith World more than Middle-Earth.
Frodo with the Ring on could see their form as could apparently the Elves of the Light like Glorfindel or Galadriel. Indeed, the Nazgul generally fled from his light.
Wargs were clearly related to the huge Werewolves of Morgoth. Note: Not shape-changers, just huge, evil and intelligent
I also always like the fully sentient Fox that inhabited the Shire and was curious about the Hobbits sleeping under the stars when they left Hobbiton.
Clearly a left-over from when the LoTR was still a sequel to the Hobbit in similar style and before the Professor went full on Epic story-telling.
“Hobbits! Well, what’s next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There’s something might queer behind this.”
My question is how did Frodo or Sam find out about this Fox’s thoughts to record them in the Red Book?
It reminds me of the thrush that tells Bard about Smaug’s weakness. Just imagining Bilbo quizzing him about the bird-talk.
There and Back Again better known as The Hobbit had a somewhat unreliable narrator. Bilbo recorded the story but was also entertaining his nieces and nephews with the story. So some embellishment and guesses were recorded I believe.
It was Frodo that corrected the Riddles in the Dark chapter. Bilbo recorded it quite differently.
That Thrush was quite smart though, wasn’t it. It knew to look for Bard to let him know the weak point in Smaug’s armor. It also went a got Roäc son of Carc to speak to Thorin. That Thrush really seem to want to support the Dwarves. Perhaps it was a servant of Vána. Song Birds were pretty much one of her things, though Dwarves not so much. I get the wanting the Dragon dead part.
And ravens = good, crows - bad.
To be fair, Crebain were larger than normal, evil crows. So not all crows.
But Ravens = Good for sure. Gandalf is at least partly inspired by Odin the Wanderer , so that fits. Huginn and Muninn the Ravens are 2 of Odin’s 3 animals.
Odin’s 3 and a half animals, surely?
Are you counting Sleipnir as 1½ or did I miss half an animal?
Top half of one horse, bottom halves of two horses.
He also had two wolves, Freki and Geri.
My silly LotR thought: Gandalf and Durin’s Bane (the Balrog) must have known each other. As Ainu, they helped create the universe, then lived in Valinor for some time. Maybe they hung out together. Maybe they made fun of that pompous ass Sauron. Sometimes they’d see whose spell could control a door; the loser had to ask boring-as-f**k Aule how his dwarf project was going.
There used to be a very funny site called “Sauron’s Blog”, written from his POV. This is the best link to it could find, but feel free to hunt down a better one. I think the writer just lost interest.
Maybe, maybe not. The Maiar served particular Valar at times, so they might not have interacted, as I suspect they would have had very different duties. Supposedly the Balrogs were fire beings even as Maiar, and while Melkor corrupted them over to his side, their basic nature was still similar. They went over to Melkor’s side pretty early on, when the Two Trees were still around, though they didn’t participate in the destruction of the trees (Melkor had help from the giant spider Ungoliant for that). If Gandalf knew Durin’s Bane, it would have been a long time before, long before even the First Age began. But I get the feeling they would have moved in different social circles in Valinor even back then.
Now, Sauron served the smith Aule, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he worked with the Balrogs at the forges. Plus, Aule and Melkor were bitter rivals, and just as Melkor poached Sauron (originally named Mairon) from Aule, he probably enjoyed doing the same with the Balrogs. (My own pet theory here.)
As I recall, only one Fire Spirit did not follow Melkor, and that one became the Sun.